After three years of waiting, the fourth season of Stranger Things is finally about to premiere. This is an event of considerable pop culture interest for the hit Netflix series. It is also a highly interesting journey through an appropriate combination of genres and narrative threads that became a milestone. Now, the inevitable question is why such an event suffered such a long hiatus. What happened so that the new episodes of the series took so long to arrive?
As strange as it may seem, Stranger Things has distinguished itself precisely by taking a considerable amount of time for the premiere of its seasons. The third took two years to reach the screen. And there was also a curious discussion about the production costs, the slowness of the filming and the age of its protagonists. The debate is once again part of the great virtual conversation a few days after the arrival of its long-awaited new chapters.
The gap between seasons is a complicated issue on Netflix. The platform, which has become famous for sudden cancellations of successful projects, is also famous for a curious reason. And it is filming productions in batches, which usually arrive in more or less short periods of time on the multiscreen. But with Stranger Things everything has been different. A year ago, executive producer Shawn Levy sat down with Collider and broke down what happened during the long process of filming the series. And the answer to the delay seems to lie somewhere between the ambition and the new creative demands of the series. What could be translated as greater investment, a team effort of greater interest and of course, more filming time.
The long journey of Stranger Things to multiscreen
For Levy, the main point to understand the path of Stranger Things from an audience phenomenon to a cult one is the interest around it. If the first and second seasons were audience successes, the third turned the series into a phenomenon with its own dynamics. Something that the producers were very aware of when planning the fourth season. In fact, always for Collider, the executive insisted that the new chapters were a “new scale” challenge. In addition to having to go through the most complicated of the security protocols of the Covid pandemic.
The combination of a series that required the construction of scenarios, a new perspective their characters and delve into their mythology, caused filming delays. To all of the above, it should be added that the production process is still in charge only of Levy, Matt and Ross Duffer. For the trio, the rhythm of filming is related to building a language that combines from digital to practical effects. In addition to a rethinking of the series as a phenomenon.
If the entire discourse of Stranger Things was based on the mysteries of Hawkins, for season three the characters became an essential point. And while they always were in a way, the show's change in direction pointed its gang of young heroes in a different direction. Another element of interest is that the core relationship with Hawkins is broken, the series divided its scenarios into three. What also caused the narration to create conditions to unify up to three films simultaneously.
The pandemic and its ravages
Netflix
The COVID protocols also played a complicated role in the recording of the fourth season of Strange Things. Production had to stop a month after recording began. He was barely able to return on September 4, 2020, almost seven months later. That involved bringing the technical production team back on set, as well as carrying out specific logistics. The series was filmed in three different locations (Lithuania, California and Hawkins) and in each of them, it had to handle different protocols. In the end, the series became a gigantic project that involved the union of three different teams in two countries, two continents and with nine diverse teams.
But in the end, the effort has been worth it. The previews showed a much more mature, elegant and well-built production. In addition, what appears to be a new storytelling style and a more adult adventure. However, the series also continues to stand on its main basis. A beloved cast going through an increasingly convoluted story. What can we of season four? We are a few days away from finally answering that question.
